10 Years Ago...

neilschelly's picture
  • Jen and I had never been to Europe or South America. Australia was the only foreign continent we'd been to.
  • We'd been to 6 different countries. Now, we've been to 12.
  • I shot with a film camera (Canon AE-1 Program). Jen had an early Canon Digital Elph point-and-shoot.
  • I weighed about 345 lbs. In the last few years, I've lost about 125, and if I hadn't gained 40 in the middle, I'd look great!
  • I had never run a 5k. I casually run 6-7 miles now on a regular basis.
  • I drove a 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer: the first/only car I've ever bought new and the first/only car I've ever totalled. This was the last time I owned a front-wheel drive car.
  • I had autocrossed only 4 times, ever.
  • I might have never changed my own oil. I'd definitely never rebuilt an engine.
  • I had almost no hair. I didn't start to grow it out until 2005.
  • Jen and I had just bought our first condo in Tyngsboro, MA. We had just bought condo insurance after watching half of our complex burn down 2 months later.
  • We had just gotten Soloman. Best Dog Ever. We knew nothing about dog behavior, because we didn't need to yet.
  • Jen and I were making a massive cake for my birthday and a July 4th picnic. It was the trial run for making our wedding cake, and it could feed about 150 people easily.
  • Unless you look at the date on the marriage license, Jen and I were nine days away from getting married.
  • We were relatively buried in debt, though I suspect better off than many students today are when graduating college.
  • My brother and I were Crooked Chimney Technology Group, inventing social media before social media existed and selling coffee online through BuyCoffee.com. We were only months away from selling the company and getting day jobs.
  • I had never used a source code revision control system. Yikes.
  • I used Debian Stable as my desktop operating system. Some things don't change.
  • My phone was a Handspring Visor Prism (color!) with the VisorPhone Springboard attachment. It was a smartphone before smartphones were cool. I wore it in a holster to make sure no one else would ever think it was cool.
  • I turned 23. Jen was still older than me.

A lot happens in ten years. I can only imagine how much can change in the next ten. I think we'll spend the next ten going to eleven.